Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Classic Children's Literature Event 2015

Another year and another Classic Children's Literature Event for the month of January, hosted by Amanda at Simpler Pastimes! I'm going to pledge to read two classic children's books for this event, probably Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and My Father's Dragon orThe Trumpet of the Swan. Amanda's chosen read-along is Pinocchio, so I will try to fit that one in too.

Event Basics

During the month of January, read
as many Children’s Classics as you wish and post about them on your blog and/or
leave a comment on the event page on this blog. I will have a link page
starting the first of the year to gather posts so that we may share as we go.

The optional RAL title: The
Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. I plan
on discussion the weekend of January 23-25.

I’m not going to be the
“children’s classics” police. Use your own judgement for what fits the category
but if you want some guidelines, these are what I’m going by:

I think many of us have read more
recent children’s books that we may already deem “classics” (for example, many
people feel that way about the Harry Potter books), but for this event, I’d prefer
if we read books that were written prior to 1964. This will still allow a lot
of options, and will hopefully avoid the “but what is a classic” dilemma! (And
yes, 1964 is rather arbitrary. Rebel if you wish, but 50 years old seems a good
age.)

Defining “children’s,” especially
prior to 1900 or so can be a challenge as some books we think of as
“children’s” today may not have been intended that way at the time. Personally,
I’d say books appropriate for approximately an elementary-school aged child
or preteen (to read or to have read to them) should be fine. I’d personally
also count the various fairy tales, even though some of the earliest versions
were not exactly family friendly.

Feel free to include books from any
country, in translation or not. I have limited exposure to non-American
children’s lit, so I’d love to learn about books from other countries myself.

There is no deadline for
joining or participating (other than, of course, the end of January).

Most important: Have fun!

Last year I was able to complete The Wizard of Oz, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Once and Future King and Prince Caspian. Wow! I'm not so ambitious this year so we'll see how many I can complete. And please join us if you feel in a children's books mood!

Oh, I'm sure I can manage something! I'll be limited to my own shelves because I pledged not to check out library books in January, but that's no hardship. : ) I will be happy to see what everyone else chooses too.

Oh! Read The Trumpet of the Swan! That was one of my favorites in elementary school. I've never heard of Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, so I'm looking forward to learning more about it. I'm happy to have you reading along in January. Enjoy!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright: Cleo and Classical Carousel, Years 2014 - 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Cleo and Classical Carousel with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.